Whether it's your roommate, your boyfriend, or your whole damn family, if you have to share, chances are you fantasize about having a bathroom of your very own. Who's the bathroom hog in your house?

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

Answers

I grew up in a house with six people (four kids) and one teeny tiny bathroom. The bathroom hog in our family was my older brother, who - so far as I could tell - spent hour upon hour admiring himself in the mirror.

I now live in a house with 3 bathrooms. Since there are 3 people in the house, it works out well.

Except that I'm the one who has to clean them, that is.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

When I was growing up, my Mom, Dad, and I shared a bathroom. It was hectic at times when we all needed to be somewhere at the same time, but for the most part, we kept to our schedules. I was the bathroom hog. Since I was a small child, I have been the BubbleBathQueen. I have always taken LONG bubble baths, so to preserve hot water (we had one small hot water heater), my designated time was in the evenings. This worked out great since I could take it anytime after getting home from school until 2 or 3 in the morning. This worked out wonderfully. When I got married, we always ended up with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath houses and apartments, so I was not spoiled by a bathroom of my own until we moved to Texas. The first place we lived had 2 baths, and it was WONDERFUL, but when we moved, we chose a 1 bedroom apartment with a study... and 1 bath. A big bathroom, though. I thought we could handle it, and although it is a struggle sometimes, we make it work. I am the bathroom hog. My husband has one drawer and part of the medicine cabinet for himself. His side of the vanity houses his stuff and a lot of the shared stuff (Q-tips, cotton balls, etc), and my side and all the underneath cabinets and such hold my makeup, cleaners, etc. I have chrome shelves all over the bathroom to hold my lotions, bubble baths, shower gels, perfumes, etc. To compromise, my husband got me the perfect detachable showerhead, and he doesn't ever gripe about not having equal space in the bathroom, or apartment for that matter. He says that he requires a very small amount of room. I spend a lot of time in there since I do all of my getting ready in there, from shower to putting on jewelry... most of the time I get dressed in there, too. It helps that I can put on all my makeup in 2-3 minutes, (I have been wearing makeup since I was 12, and at 25, if one can't do this, it's sad!) and that I have a no fuss hairstyle (all one length, slightly wavy unless I want it curly, a little below the shoulders... no heated appliances or styling products required). Tht sort of offsets the hour long bubble baths and such, right?

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

You know, part of our problem is that we don't have a shower. I can take a quick shower, but not a quick bath. It's just not possible.

My dad built me my own bathroom when I was 12. Smart man.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

Right now we have two people and one bathroom so there's no problems, but in my last house we had three/four people and one bathroom, and two out of three residents HAD, HAD HAD HAD HAD to shower first thing in the morning, at least a half hour apiece. When all three of us had to go to work or school at 8 a.m., this was a nightmare. I ended up peeing in my back yard a LOT.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2001

I could not live without a shower. No way. I don't feel clean after a bath, watching that scummy water I was just immersed in draining from the tub.

We're lucky enough to have a 2-bath apartment, which was really just a happy accident (we wanted a 2-bedroom, and they all come with two bathrooms here). For a while the second one was the 'guest bathroom' and/or the one we used when we were up and around because it wasn't off the master bedroom. Then I started using the second one on Sundays so I wouldn't wake Ken, and then I started using the second one on other weekdays too because it was just easier not to have to wait for the shower or negotiate who would go first. Now we both go first. It's nice. Gloat, gloat.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Beth, i don't know how you do it without a shower. I love love LOVE taking a bath but my problem is that i equate a bath with relaxing, usually after a Very Bad Day. I can't imagine getting up in the morning and hopping into a bath - i would get out and want to put my PJs back on and go back to bed. I also get incredibly frustrated whenever i try to wash my hair in the tub because i'm a klutz.

I share a bathroom with George and my cat. It usually works out okay because we each tend to ask if the other needs the bathroom first if we intend to be in there for a significant amount of time.

I would love my own bathroom though just for the decorating purposes. I'd love to be able to put perfume bottles and pretty candles all over the place but to do so would mean all of George's stuff would be stuck in a tiny corner.

I would also love to have a house with a basement to put the cat's box in. I clean it regularly enough that it rarely smells, but she's a litter-flinging champion and it would be so nice to not have to worry about stepping in litter after getting out of the shower or when you tiptoe in the dark to pee at 3 am.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

I'm the big bathroom hog in our relationship, though it makes me self conscious to stay in there a long time if I know people are waiting. I just can't take fast showers, though. One of my friends at the gym pointed this out to me and it's true.

Luckily we have two bathrooms now.

I also associate a bath with relaxing, and I don't feel clean the way I do after a shower.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

It's just me an my lil' angel. She has a bathroom decorated in purple girly stuff an I have mine decorated in manly blue an beige. After I pick her up from daycare/school and we both hafta go pee/poo she sometimes suggests that I use her bathroom an she uses mine. I say, "Ok.", thinking it's a cute little game until I sit down and find that the only reason for the switch is because her roll of toilet paper has a single square left on it. Little squirt. Ain't kids great?

Once, I left the toilet seat up in her bathroom. She sat down unaware - my gosh. She came out, lips pursed, eyes glaring, five year old little hands perched on her hips and scolded me like I was a puppy. And let's not even talk about if I splatter a bit and forget to wipe the droplets off the rim. It's that savage woman instinct I tell ya. Pure savage.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2001

When I was growing up, not only did my family of four only have one bathroom, but the toilet was difficult to flush effectively. It made no sense to piss in it, but making it accept a number two was a royal hassle and often necessitated a trip to the outdoor faucet to get a bucket of water. Consequently, I developed my own outdoor routine, which wasn't difficult on 50 acres of forest, even in the winter.

Baths were complicated by the fact that potable water was rain water and was always limited - baths had to be rationed and it was rare I'd get more than two in a month.

Now, of course, I've overcompensated. I've bought a house with three full bathrooms and I share it with one other person. Ah, the successful flushes! Ah, the long deep baths. I sort of miss the routine of getting a shovel and toilet paper and venturing into the woods, but hey, life is about change.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2001

I'm happy to report that I've found a solution to the bathroom sharing question, which is simply to dipense with having one! We've found that it stops any argument on the subject whatsoever. Although it does lead to secondary disputes such as; whose turn is it to arrange for a bath with our friends and the ever popular " its definately time you had a bucket bath !" We do cheat a little in having access to a toilet, which rather spoils the simplicity of the scheme as we have to share that with the rest of our end of the building!

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2001